In African culture Ilobola over years has been a procedure to be followed when a boy wants to wed a girl of his dreams and an exchange in assets was seen as a little token of appreciation to the bride’s family for the upbringing of their daughter. But today marrying someone leaves one reeling in debts; one would swear you buying a cruise ship or a flight.
Since I’m rapidly approaching thirty and would love to be a family man someday I took it upon myself to ask kwabaphambili (those who have been there) about the experience especially seeing the high rate of divorce and relevancy in paying ilobola nowadays and of course it’s overpricing.
A cow range from 2-grand to 4-grand and if the in-laws say 15 cows which is a norm that will set you back in an excess of R 30K – R 60K
A friend of mine who double as a mentor and successful business man took me through his woeful and bitter experience about love, ilobola and all that is included.
The heart does not choose who to fall for and funny how it can also resent the one who was so dearest to it at a blink of an eye. I had been dating this woman for ages now and much as I wanted to make her my wife all things changed when I discovered that she cheated on me that’s when I called it quits. I let her run one of my franchises, bought her a sport car and foot the education bill for her child (who is not mine)”
It’s alright I fully understand that majority of kids out there are born out of wedlock and innocent bachelor’s have to play a role of step-dad, all in the name of love.
“When my uncles went to ask for her hand in marriage I was shocked by her family demands, R100K was what they wanted with R80K being their lowest price they’d settle for; these for a woman who doesn’t have matric, has iveza ndlebe (child born out of wedlock) whom I’ve been taking care of, umabuy’emendweni (marriage returnee) and living off my companies revenues.
The family was without a doubt greedy and ungrateful and I knew I had to cut ties when one of my uncle boldly told me “mshana labantu bazokusenga uze uphume igazi (nephew, these people are going to milk you till you bleed)”
Today she has two extra kids, unmarried and abafana bangena bephuma (pretty much a hoe)
I instructed my uncles to leave them as that was unreasonable, the question I had in my-mind was banayo yini bona leyomali (do they have that kind of amount)
Luckily for me I met my mutual partner whom her family didn’t ask for any penny (which is a first) except that I should treasure their flower. This woman who is now my wife had went to the best of school money can buy, had a successful business and from a well run family all she needed was a loving husband which is where I came in.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Shot Left and Shop eKasi
Times have changed; this is evident with a handful of developments that has been taking place within our communities over the years. Gone are the days where one has to board a taxi to town to do shopping, banking or to wine and dine for that matter.
Orange Farm embraced the day where an announcement that a shopping mall will be build but up until now developments had been brought to a halt and in-fighting amongst those who are at the helm is visible which is believed to be politically motivated.
As it stand only phase three which will accommodate a cash and carry outlet is under construction and the actual mall will commence early next year. About 3 500 employment opportunities will be created by the stores while a further 1 800 as a result of construction. Seven squared meters stalls will be erected for hawkers.
Town Square shopping mall, which will consist of 158 retail stores and house a local radio station is said to be the best thing that will happen to the dusty streets of Orange Farm but it has amassed a lot of unnecessary attention before it even see its foundation being laid.
A spate of protests has been the order of the day which resulted in a drop down of tools after leaders from a ruling party’s youth league were alleged to have aired their dissatisfaction for their ward councillor not been hired seeing that the mall is going to be situated right in their ward.
Orange Farm Greater Business Forum moved swiftly by calling a meeting with the members of the community to ease their anger and assure them of their capability to see the project through.
Ward 3 Chairperson, Makhosonke and his cronies are alleged to have demanded seventy percent ownership of the mall as it in their ward while further reports are that certain people wanted the Economic Development Forum to vacate and let the trust fund take over.
Thenjwa Nene, President of Economic Development Forum which is tasked with overseeing the completion of the mall on behalf of the community said “We halted construction due to threats we received on the first day from certain individuals to torch equipment hence they were taken away and rumours that jobs were available, in our last meeting each ward submitted a list of people whom will be interviewed for jobs within the structure and then be deployed on site. Five Community Liaison Officers with a reported salary of around R 18 000 per month were interested but due to financial constraints we went back and revisited the matter”
Attempts to get hold of Orange Farm Youth league’s comment proved futile.
Orange Farm embraced the day where an announcement that a shopping mall will be build but up until now developments had been brought to a halt and in-fighting amongst those who are at the helm is visible which is believed to be politically motivated.
As it stand only phase three which will accommodate a cash and carry outlet is under construction and the actual mall will commence early next year. About 3 500 employment opportunities will be created by the stores while a further 1 800 as a result of construction. Seven squared meters stalls will be erected for hawkers.
Town Square shopping mall, which will consist of 158 retail stores and house a local radio station is said to be the best thing that will happen to the dusty streets of Orange Farm but it has amassed a lot of unnecessary attention before it even see its foundation being laid.
A spate of protests has been the order of the day which resulted in a drop down of tools after leaders from a ruling party’s youth league were alleged to have aired their dissatisfaction for their ward councillor not been hired seeing that the mall is going to be situated right in their ward.
Orange Farm Greater Business Forum moved swiftly by calling a meeting with the members of the community to ease their anger and assure them of their capability to see the project through.
Ward 3 Chairperson, Makhosonke and his cronies are alleged to have demanded seventy percent ownership of the mall as it in their ward while further reports are that certain people wanted the Economic Development Forum to vacate and let the trust fund take over.
Thenjwa Nene, President of Economic Development Forum which is tasked with overseeing the completion of the mall on behalf of the community said “We halted construction due to threats we received on the first day from certain individuals to torch equipment hence they were taken away and rumours that jobs were available, in our last meeting each ward submitted a list of people whom will be interviewed for jobs within the structure and then be deployed on site. Five Community Liaison Officers with a reported salary of around R 18 000 per month were interested but due to financial constraints we went back and revisited the matter”
Attempts to get hold of Orange Farm Youth league’s comment proved futile.
Another Youth Summit failed
Yet another opportunity presented to the youth proved to be just a waste of time and energy. The much anticipated Orange Farm Youth Development Summit that was supposed to have been hosted on the 17th to the 19th of November at Multipurpose Centre was cancelled at the eleventh hour. To make matters worse; the summit was unceremonially cancelled through a social network site.
An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said “It’s not surprising that the summit failed, all was well planned that’s until certain individuals were elected and given tasks which they couldn’t complete. For starters the venue was not finalized.
Among issues which were going to be tackled at the summit includes unemployment, crime, drugs, HIV/AIDS, internships, entrepreneurships, social and human development opportunities available to the youth of Orange Farm.
Parliamentary Committee Officer Patrick Mnyengeza said “The summit didn’t take place as preparations were not satisfactory and we had people showing dishonesty when it comes to finance. We therefore decided to postpone it to either February or March next year”
An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said “It’s not surprising that the summit failed, all was well planned that’s until certain individuals were elected and given tasks which they couldn’t complete. For starters the venue was not finalized.
Among issues which were going to be tackled at the summit includes unemployment, crime, drugs, HIV/AIDS, internships, entrepreneurships, social and human development opportunities available to the youth of Orange Farm.
Parliamentary Committee Officer Patrick Mnyengeza said “The summit didn’t take place as preparations were not satisfactory and we had people showing dishonesty when it comes to finance. We therefore decided to postpone it to either February or March next year”
Stand up, you count!
Statistics South Africa conducted the country’s third population and housing census last month where enumerators went house to house asking questions contained in the Census 2011 questionnaire.The national count kick started on a sour note when the safety of the community was compromised, this comes after a resident was robbed of a firearm and cash, when he let two men posing as census officials into his home.
Due to reports that certain residents were reluctant to co-operate, Census issued a stern warning and threatened to fine people who refuse to be counted; one wonders if this did remedy the situation.
This year’s data collection was marred with allegations of contracts signed at shopping malls and dissatisfaction from enumerators regarding their salaries which was said to be below those of other regions in comparison and this resulted in a group of field workers to picket outside Statistics South Africa offices in Vereeniging.
Sedibeng District Manager, Thokozani Vilakazi said “The project went well except for minor glitches especially in farm areas where we faced hostility and list of questionnaires being torn apart by residents and police had to intervene.
A census determines demographic data, the statistics on number, the distribution, and characteristics of people living within the borders of South Africa. Census 2011 comes 10 years after Census 2001 and the data collected will track how far South Africa progressed in terms of service delivery. For instance whilst in 1996 access to electricity was 58% by 2001 70% of South African households had access to electricity. Census 1996 put South Africa’s population size at 40.5 million and by 2001 this number had risen to 44.8 million people living within our borders.
# If you were not counted, email your details to census2011@statssa.gov.za or call 0800 110248
Youth pissed on opportunity
Efforts by the government to aid scholars with their studies during examination time were tarnished and left education officials with eggs on their faces; this comes after the grade twelve revision site camps which were hosted by Gauteng department of Education at Wilberforce Community College, Evaton were abruptly cancelled three days prior to its official ending. This comes after allegations of thuggery and sexual indulgence from the scholars on premises.
It is understood that knife stabbing and sexual indulgence by learners from a certain school (name known by this blogger) were some of the incidents which led to the decision by the department to cancel the camp.
A learner who spoke on condition of anonymity said “This was a great initiative by the department and we appreciated it mainly because of the difference it made but how do you bring youth of opposite gender to one place without an elder looking after them? We know how the youth behave; it’s unfortunate that some of us have to suffer because of silly mistake as this one”
This was the second incident where youth have pissed on opportunity afforded to them, the other being a summit that was held a month ago by the Emfuleni Local Municipality which was marred by controversy.
District Manager, Sipho Chanza refused to comment and referred all queries to the department.
Gauteng department of Education, Spokesperson Charles Phahlane had not responded to questions left by this blogger at time of publishing.
It is understood that knife stabbing and sexual indulgence by learners from a certain school (name known by this blogger) were some of the incidents which led to the decision by the department to cancel the camp.
A learner who spoke on condition of anonymity said “This was a great initiative by the department and we appreciated it mainly because of the difference it made but how do you bring youth of opposite gender to one place without an elder looking after them? We know how the youth behave; it’s unfortunate that some of us have to suffer because of silly mistake as this one”
This was the second incident where youth have pissed on opportunity afforded to them, the other being a summit that was held a month ago by the Emfuleni Local Municipality which was marred by controversy.
District Manager, Sipho Chanza refused to comment and referred all queries to the department.
Gauteng department of Education, Spokesperson Charles Phahlane had not responded to questions left by this blogger at time of publishing.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Silence not always golden
Gauteng department of sport, arts, culture and recreation together with SAPS and other numerous stakeholders launched its 16 days of activism against gender violence campaign over the weekend at Chris Hani Sport Complex, Orange Farm.
This year’s awareness which is held all over the world will run until early next month under a theme “From peace in the home to peace in the world”. Among some of the activities that will take place will include prayer walk, parents and care givers workshop and door-to-door campaigns.
Letta Mahlakwana, a victim of abuse reiterated her woeful experience “I endured pain in the hands of my husband, this is someone who was suppose to be protecting me. I urge everyone to be vigilant in picking up signs from an early stages, no one deserves to be abused.
”It is very disturbing to note that abuse in any form not only is committed by men, lately women are culprits too. Gone are the days where women would not be dealt with. Being behind bars for assault reflects badly on a person hence we call on our communities to work together and stand-up against abuse,” said Lieutenant Anna Mabaso.
It’s 100.6 and counting
Orange Farm based community radio station Thetha FM celebrated its six-year of broadcasting over the weekend. The station which has been marred by numerous challenges ranging from on and off air squabbles first went on-air back in 2005
The celebration which was hosted in three consecutive days began at the station’s premises with traditional artists entertaining the revellers including drum majorettes and ended with a live performance by Professor at Muthi House, Evaton.
Station Manager, Jimmy Dlamini said “It was only yesterday when we went on-air and today we have grown in boundaries. We unearthed presenters whose language and content of the show is realistic and of good quality. The community has continued to play a huge role in supporting us to be where we are today and that didn’t go unnoticed and it’s only fair that we acknowledge that and appreciate. Suggestions from listeners are welcomed in a sense that sustainable programmes can be achieved.”
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